Minimalist Art Aquariums Made Possible With 3D Printing

A Japanese artist has used 3D printing technology to make waves and create beautiful aquariums for your goldfish to live in.

Amongst aquarists, Japan is renowned for their freshwater landscapes known as aquascapes which is an underwater architectural style credited to Takashi Amano.

The style was created back in the 90’s but is still going strong today thanks to Haruka Misawa who has redefined the regular aquascaping in favor of making smaller, more domestic waves.

Misawa is a former Nendo alum, Muji protege, and founder of the Misawa Design Institute and his redefinition of aquascaping has introduced some interesting 3D printed forms.

The benefits of these beautiful prints are not just that they are easy on the eye but they also give your fish something to interact with.

Whether you have turtles, aquatic plants or goldfish, they will be able to interact with a miniature landscape inspired by nature, but you will know the modern output is from a 3D printer.

Haruka Misawa’s Designs Explained

To create these stunning prints, Misawa worked with 3D designers Kennichi Hashimoto and Kosho Yamasaki to utilize the effects between water and air.

Misawa explains: “The inner space of this fish tank is created by combining two simple elements of container and water, with an extraordinary world created that differs from the world with air… delicate structures that are prone to damage caused by their own weight on land are able to maintain a stable state because of the relative force of gravity and buoyancy.”

This means plants can grow within bubbles of air which are surrounded by enclosures of water which fish can then explore.

Unfortunately, for anyone interested in having their own 3D printed aquarium, these sculptures are currently just prototypes.

Misawa is exploring the works between gravity and buoyancy which means for now, you can’t give your fish a gorgeous new home.

However, if you want to see them for yourself, the works have been displayed in Taiwan and a new book which explains aquascapes in detail is being released.

What do you think of these aquascapes? Let us know in the comments and make sure to check out the video below.